Sunday, 24 January 2016

Updates: January 2016 arrests of Junud-ul-Khalifa-e-Hind IS members

No IS reference in arrested cleric’s speeches

The Delhi-based cleric arrested on Friday on the basis of the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) ‘open FIR’ against the Islamic State had asked Muslim youths in Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh, to stay off Internet only 10 days ago.
While Mufti Abdus Sami Qasmi had spoken in support of the erstwhile
Islamic Caliphate in Turkey and asked Muslims to go to war when attacked
in his fiery speeches, he did not speak openly about the IS per se, The Indian Express has found after going through Qasmi’s speeches over the years. The speeches are on the Internet.

The NIA, sources said, has not found any speech where the cleric is
seen urging Indian Muslims to join the Islamic State. Qasim, the imam of
Delhi’s Usmania Mosque, however, says that it is incumbent upon every
Muslim to help establish a Caliphate, among others. Post-arrest, the NIA had claimed that the former student of Darul
Uloom Deoband has been “delivering provocative and inflammatory speeches
in support of ‘Caliphate’” and “has been instigating youth for
anti-national activities”.

In his most recent speech, in Bijnor on January 26, Qasmi is heard
asking Indian Muslims to keep off the Internet due to its corrupting
influence and the fear of American CIA monitoring it. “Do not go on
Facebook and Internet — these are CIA tools. They will trap you and then
blame you. If you want to learn about religion, read the Holy Quran,”
he says in his speech. He is also heard talking in detail about the patriotism of Muslims,
their role in the freedom struggle, and their lamentable state now under
a “Hindutva government”. Most of his speeches are anti-Semitic and
suggest a conspiracy by the Jews and Christians to finish Islam.

One radical Islamic blog mentions his name as Mufti Abdus Sami Qasmi
Al-Hindi and lists him among 80 clerics across the world who support
Islamic State. This, however, could not be independently verified by The
Indian Express.
The NIA has also said that it has found “suspicious” flow of funds to
his madrasa and trust, and is probing whether he received money from
abroad.
The investigators are yet to find evidence that Qasmi had provided
financial assistance to the group of men arrested over alleged IS links
recently.
According to sources, Qasmi knew most of the members of this new organisation.

New Delhi: A self-proclaimed cleric has been arrested by National Investigation Agency (NIA) officials for allegedly planning terror attacks in the country. Abdus Sami Qasmi, a resident of Seelampur, was arrested from Uttar Pradesh's Hardoi district. He has been arrested as part of an ongoing investigation into the conspiracy to form a terror organisation in the country, NIA officials said.

Adbus Sami has been delivering provocative and inflammatory speeches in the support of 'Caliphate', they said. He has launched a few websites where his speeches have been uploaded. Abdus Sami has been allegedly instigating and motivating youth for anti-national activities and has visited various parts of the country in order to deliver his 'Takreer and Bayaan' (speech and statement), the NIA officials said.

He runs a trust and madrassas and some of his financial transactions in this connection have allegedly been found to be of suspicious nature and the same are under investigation, they said. Abdus Sami was arrested yesterday by the NIA with the active support of Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad yesterday. A Non-Bailable Warrant against him had earlier been issued by the Special NIA court in Delhi.

NIA arrests ‘IS man’ from Bhopal

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) Monday arrested a 24-year-old
terror suspect from Bhopal as part of the agency’s crackdown on alleged
sympathisers of Islamic State (IS). The youth, identified as Azhar Iqbal, is the 16th person to be held
by the agency in connection with a case registered in Delhi under the
UAPA on December 9 last year.

Iqbal was arrested from Putli Ghar area of Bhopal and his interrogation in connection with the case was on, NIA sources said. A resident of Barkheda in Obaidullaganj tehsil of Madhya Pradesh’s
Raisen district, Iqbal was said to be hiding in the residence of one
Laik Ahmed before NIA sleuths apprehended him, sources said. Iqbal’s
name, they said, had cropped up during the interrogation of 15 suspects
that NIA has already arrested in connection with the case.

According to the sources, he used to move around with some members of
the group and even attended some of its meetings. Conspiracy to carry
out terror attacks was purportedly discussed at these meetings. The agency is investigating a largescale conspiracy in which young
men from across the country were allegedly planning to carry out terror
attacks in the name of the IS.

The NIA has claimed that the youths, who come from UP, Karnataka,
Telangana and Maharashtra, were motivated by a man named Yusuf al-Hindi,
who is suspected to be former Indian Mujahideen operative Shafi Armar.
Armar’s brother Sultan is reported to have died fighting for the IS in
Syria.
The agency claims to have recovered explosives — vials of hydrogen
peroxide and potassium nitrate — from homes of some the accused. Timer
devices and wires were also allegedly found in the possession of the
accused, and NIA claims they were preparing to make bombs.

Price catch Mudabbir Shaikh slipped out from ATS scanner for nearly four years

January 28, 2016

The 33-year-old software programmer first came in contact with the
terrorist outfit when he was living in Nalasopara but he changed his
base in 2012 to Mumbra after Yasin Bhatkal’s investment in a real estate
project at Nalasopara came to light when Maharashtra ATS managed to nab
members of Indian Mujahideen (IM) involved in serial blasts.

Mudabbir Shaikh, four years back, was working closely with IM for
terror funding and investing in various real estate projects which was
used to radicalise youths. After Bhatkal’s arrest, many members leaned
towards IS and were given targets to brainwash youths. According to sources, during the probe of bomb blasts at Zaveri
Bazar, Dadar Kabutrakhana and Opera House in 2011, the Maharashtra’s ATS
arrested Naquee for stealing bikes to plant bombs. He revealed that IM
leader Bhatkal handed him Rs25 lakh and of which he invested Rs14 lakh
in real estate project at Ostwal Nagari in Nalasopara (E).

While the
fellow bomb planters, Ostwal Nagari in Nalasopara (E) who shared an
apartment with Bhatkal before July 13 serial blasts, worked as a
supervisor and sales executive in the building site. Shockingly, during the crackdown by ATS in 2012, Shaikh’s involvement
in terror funding went unnoticed as he managed to remain low-key to
avoid unnecessary heat on him.

“Bhatkal invested Rs14 lakh in a real estate project named Poonam
Paradise at Ostwal Nagari and the IM members were working as supervisors
and managers. The role of shaikh was to remain in touch with them and
provide them amenities,” said a ATS source.

“He was radicalised by the IM members who later turned into a major
asset for them to provide local support at Nalasopara and Mira Road as
they kept switching their base when the heat was high after the blasts,”
said the source.
“Shaikh shifted to Mumbra as soon as he learnt about the ATS raids in
various parts of Western suburbs and remained to be a sleeper cell till
he joined IS. He started his activities to brainwash youths when we
zeroed down on him leading to his arrests,” said the official from ATS. Apart from his involvement in IS, the NIA is probing his role in
co-ordinating with agents across border during bomb blasts in the
country while as of now the exact role is not clear. Sources closely working on the investigation suspected that IS was
planning to free Yasin Bhatkal from Cherlapally Jail in Hyderabad.

“The IM founder in Hyderabad jail was hoping to be free in an
operation by IS and we are interrogating if the Mumbra man along with
the other arrested accused were planning a mission to free Yasin
Bhatkal,” said a senior ATS officer.

A joint team of National Investigation
Agencies and Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad is keeping a close watch
on around 20 youngsters from different parts of Mumbai and Maharashtra.
These youths were in touch with arrested IT professional Mudabbir
Mushtaq Shaikh, believed to be ISIS's primary recruiter in India.

The youths NIA and ATS are keeping a tab
on are from Mumbra, Kalyan, Bhiwandi, Panvel, Mira Road, Malvani and
other parts of Mumbai, as well as from across Maharashtra.

The joint team had conducted a raid at the Mumbra residence of Shaikh
on Friday and arrested him. Investigation revealed that Shaikh is the
terror group’s primary recruiter in India and was in direct touch with
his handler, Yusuf-al-Hindi who was further in touch with Abu Bakr-al
Baghdadi, the ISIS chief. Shaikh has been booked under IPC Section 125
(waging war against any Asiatic power in alliance with the government)
of the Indian Penal Code and various sections of the Unlawful Activities
(Prevention) Act.

Shaikh had started radicalizing youths
through social networking websites. “He used to target youths who liked
the posts and activities of the extremist group on social networks. Once
he gained their trust, he would radicalize them on chat rooms and ask
them to spread the message to join the group,” added the officer.

Common hints

Few things that are very common
among all these youngsters are that they pray five times a day, are
active on social networking websites and their behaviour has changed
within the family that has been noticed by their parents. They are eager
to go to Syria. “Shaikh claims that his motive was to target
well-educated people, who are familiar with social network and are
trustworthy.
During the investigation, Shaikh claimed ISIS offers two options to
its recruits. Either become a soldier and join them on the battlefield
in Iraq and Syria or become a recruiter.

Though Shaikh wanted to go to Syria, his
handler, Yusuf-Al-Hindi, asked him to stay in India and help their
cause by providing them with amenities and fresh recruits,” said an
officer.
During interrogation, Shaikh also revealed that recruiting youths from Indonesia was their first priority.
“Shaikh claimed their target was to radicalized more and more youths
from India, which was second on their priority list after Indonesia.
They were preparing a module of youngsters who would be ready to leave
their country whenever asked to and spread the ideology of ISIS,” added
the officer.

De-radicalisation

Investigation agencies had been
following Shaikh’s activities on social networking websites for more
than six months before taking him down and they are doing the same for
the suspected recruits.
“If we get in touch with these youngsters we will try to deradicalize
them. In most of the cases, their parents are aware of their children’s
involvement in some extremist group and they also counsel them to quit.
Parents should inform the police, as we can counsel them with help from
Muslim scholars, who can prove that Islam is the religion of peace and
can never represent ISIS,” said an ATS officer.

ISIS paid Rs 8 lakh to Mumbra recruiter via hawala

I.T. professional Mudabbir Mushtaq Shaikh
(34), who was arrested on Friday from his rented apartment in Mumbra,
received Rs 8 lakh from ISIS through hawala, investigators revealed.
Shaikh is said to be the terror group’s primary recruiter in India. In
his statement, Shaikh claimed he did not misuse the cash, but
distributed it among recruits.

“Shaikh said he gave Rs 50,000 to
Hussain Khan, the Mazgaon youth who was arrested by the NIA on Friday
night, and Rs 3 lakh to a Lucknow-based youth. He also claims to have
distributed the cash among a few others in Mumbai and other states. He
said he didn’t misuse the cash, but spent it on meetings he attended in
Mumbai, Lucknow, Aurangabad and a few other states. He was said to be
the Amir (deputy) of the extremist group in India and hence the cash was
sent to him,” said an investigating officer.
During interrogation, Shaikh claimed he and his family survived the
last 18 months on his savings of R30 lakh and the rent he received from a
property he owns. Shaikh has been booked under section 125 (waging war
against any Asiatic power in alliance with the government) of the Indian
Penal Code and various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention)
Act.The raid
Officers who interrogated Shaikh for
more than three hours in his kitchen, following Friday’s raid, claimed
to have shadowed his activities for the last six months before taking
him down. “Before raiding his residence, our officers kept a watch and
also manned the area since Thursday, as we were unaware whether he was
armed or not. But considering that he was with his family, chances of
him attacking us were less likely. His presence was confirmed when he
left home to offer prayers and returned around 7 pm,” said an officer
who was part of the raid.Reason for quitting job
Shaikh, a BCom graduate
and an IT professional, was employed at an IT firm in Goregaon where he
made Rs 60,000 per month. But he left the job 18 months ago, as he was
not getting enough time to promote the ISIS module. “Shaikh said he
worked as a web designer for the private firm. He claimed that his boss
was harassing him over delayed submission of projects. This he said took
a toll on his job of spreading the ISIS ideology. Hence, he quit the
job and dedicated all his time in promoting the module,” said an
officer. Shaikh claimed ISIS offers two options to its recruit. Either
become a soldier and join them on the battlefield in Iraq and Syria or
become a recruiter and spread propaganda to attract youth.

“Though Shaikh wanted to go to Syria, his
handler, Yusuf-al-Hindi, asked him to stay in India and help their cause
by providing them with amenities and fresh recruits,” the officer
added.

Two persons were detained from Hyderabad and Maharashtra Monday for alleged links with terror group IS. This comes days after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested 14 people on charges of being IS sympathisers in a nationwide.

According to sources, based on information provided by one of the four people arrested from Hyderabad earlier, the NIA conducted raids at two places in Tolichowki and Barkas areas of the city and detained one person.

A second person was picked up from Maharashtra by security agencies and is likely to be handed over to the NIA on Tuesday.

The two, whose names have been withheld, were being questioned by a joint team of intelligence agencies.

The recently busted pan-India terror module was in “constant touch” with
people perceived to be close to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the feared leader
of the Islamic State, receiving instructions for carrying out explosions at important places ahead of the Republic day.

The idea behind setting up the terror group in India was to extend
Baghdadi’s fearsome ‘Caliphate’, sources said, adding his custodial
interrogation may help the security agencies unravel the plans of the
organisation. Within a short span the group established a complete chain
of command with Shaikh being the Ameer, while Rizwan Ali, a resident of
Kushi Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, was its Naib-Ameer (deputy Chief).
Mangalore resident Najmul Huda was appointed ‘Ameer-e-Askari’ (batallion
commander) and Mohammed Nafees Khan of Bihar, who was arrested from
Hyderabad, was the group’s ‘Ameer-e-Wyulat’ (head of finance), sources
said.

The NIA had registered a case in 2015 after “credible information”
was received that the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL), also
known as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) or Dawlah-al Islamiyah
fil-Iraq wa-sh Sham (DAISH), has been engaged in radicalising Indian
youth and motivating them to join the terrorist organisation.

Due to this, “some Indian nationals have already joined it or are in
the process of joining it for committing terrorist acts in the conflict
zone of Iraq, Syria and Libya. The ISIL is also contemplating to expand
its activities to other parts of the world including India,” the NIA FIR
said.

14 people, aged between 20 and 53 years, were picked up after they
had purchased explosive material, electronic circuits used for
fabricating Improvised Explosive Devices, acid and nut and bolts, used
as splinters in bombs, sources said. They had purchased over 42 mobile
phones with SIM cards which they were planning to use as triggering
mechanism for detonating IEDs.
The group was aiming at spreading its activities in Hyderabad,
Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Uttrakhand, Assam and Karnataka, sources said.
During the last eight months, members of the group had visited some
places in the country and photographed important installations, sources
said without disclosing the details.

Arrested Mumbra Man's Wife Reveals Her Husband's ISIS Links

Updated: January 25, 2016 10:58 IST

Mumbai: The family of Muddabir Mushtaq Shaikh, it appears, was aware of his involvement with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Shaikh, 34, who was arrested from his Mumbra home on Friday at around 3 am, officers from the Maharashtra ATS and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) say, would often tell his family that he would be "soon heading to Syria".

Shaikh's wife Ujma, who is in her earlier 30s and holds a BCom degree, and her father Ahmed Miyan, a real-estate agent, had often counselled Shaikh against following the group's extremist ideologies. "I would tell him that we had a family and two daughters to take care of, but he would neglect me saying he was part of an Islamic group that was working for a good cause," says Ujma. Ujma has moved out of her Reshma Apartment residence in Amrut Nagar where she lived with Shaikh and two daughters, and is put up with a relative.

Shaikh
has been accused of being primary recruiter for ISIS in India. He was
produced at the special NIA court in Mumbai on Friday for transit
remand. He will be produced at Patiala court on Monday. An IT
professional, Shaikh was booked under Section 125 (waging war against
any Asiatic power in alliance with the government) along with various
sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Ujma said her husband had been active with the ISIS for the past few
months. "But, I am aware that for the last one month, he was not very
active. I told this to the investigating officers," she says, adding
that the officers told her they were only taking her husband for
interrogation.

The family, however, wasn't the only ones to know of Shaikh's ISIS sympathies.

Sources from the investigation agencies said that Shaikh would also try
to radicalise people at the local Amrut Nagar mosque, where he would go
for prayers five times a day. "This we found out while interrogating
Shaikh. He'd tell the others that ISIS's ideology is the proper ideology
and everyone should follow their way. Fortunately, no one entertained
him," said an officer.

Yet, when Sunday mid-day visited the mosque that Shaikh frequented, we
heard a different story. A maulana present there said, "Shaikh was
regular, but was a very quiet person. We were shocked to hear of his
arrest. We thought he was a responsible man who took take care of his
family. While we didn't speak to him much, we'd often see him during
prayers."

Investigation agencies, which have kept an eye on Shaikh for the last
six months, say he had been active with the group for three years. "Had
anybody from the family, his wife or father-in-law or those he'd meet at
the mosque, informed us about Shaikh's approach towards the extremist
group, we could have been able to de-radicalize him by getting him to
meet Muslim scholars," added the officer who interrogated Shaikh for
over three hours in the kitchen of his Mumbra residence.

Living off ISIS money?
Sources claim that Shaikh would directly tell ISIS head Abu Bakr
Al-Baghdadi about his progress. "He was active on social networking
sites and would use the Internet to make calls. We have gathered
evidence, including chat conversations, phone records and a hard disk,
which prove his direct involvement with the group. We have also found
sexual content, which we believe might have initially been used to lure
him into working for the group," added the officer.

The officer added that till 18 months ago, Shaikh was working with a
private firm in Goregoan, where he claims he was paid a monthly salary
of Rs 50,000. He left for personal reasons.

"He said he had savings of R30 lakh to take care of his family and also
some land, from which he was earning cash," added the officers who
believe that Shaikh's real cash source was ISIS, who was funding him
since he was their recruiter in India.

IS suspects planned to target Goa

Updated: January 25, 2016 09:45 IST

The terror suspects linked to the Islamic State (IS), arrested in acountrywide raid
over the past few days, had planned to target Goa a few months ago, but
Intelligence agencies did not arrest them then as they had not acquired
the capability to carry out any terrorist act, a senior government
official told The Hindu.

Their arrest was precipitated this time as some of the suspects had
assembled “liquid bombs” and were also found to be in possession of
“remote controlled circuits”, said the official. Apart from this,
gunpowder, hydrogen peroxide and pipes were recovered from some of them.

Under surveillance

“As they were under surveillance for the past seven-eight months, we
came to know of their intention to target Goa a few months ago. It was
decided not to arrest them then as they neither had explosives nor the
organisational skill to carry out the attack. Had we arrested them then,
the case could have fallen flat in the court of law later on. We
decided to wait and watch,” said the official.

The official refused to disclose the month or the time when the terror suspects wanted to target Goa. The arrested men were being brought to Delhi in a phased manner. Abu
Anas (24) and Nafees Khan (24), both from Hyderabad, were produced
before the Special Judge, NIA court, and remanded in police custody for
13 days, an NIA official said.

Another investigator said, “So far, we have arrested 14 people, but
there could be more men linked to this module. It is too early to
divulge details.”

The officials are scanning the ‘jihadi’ literature and the CDs seized from the accused.

‘Lectures by radical clerics brought terror suspects together’

Organising bayans (lectures) by radical Islamic clerics turned into a meeting ground for the six terror suspects arrested from Karnataka. Two mosques in north Bengaluru turned the platform for many such bayans, claimed NIA sources. Asif Ali, a stone polisher arrested from J.J. Nagar, worked to organise bayans by
Maulana Anzarshah Qasmi, a radical preacher from Banashankari, who was
recently arrested for his links with Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent
(AQIS).

It was at these bayans that Syed Mujahid Hussein from Tumakuru, Mohammed Afzal from Saraipalya, and Abdul Ahad were believed to have met.

Hussein had also organised a bayan by Ansarshah Qasmi in Tumakuru in November 2015, sources claimed. The group, however, grew distant from Ansarshah Qasmi, as he was opposed
to Islamic State (IS), the suspects are said to have told
interrogators.

They later organised a bayan by one Mufti Abdus Sami Qasmi,
another allegedly pro-IS cleric from Uttar Pradesh, sources claimed.
Mohammed Abdul Ahad turned into a rallying point for the group. Investigations revealed that the group held two meetings — in Bengaluru
and in a forest area in Tumakuru — in the past three months. They also claimed that the meeting held in the city was attended by
Muddabir Mushtaq Sheik from Mumbra, Mumbai and Mohammed Nafeez Khan from
Hyderabad. NIA claimed to have also recovered explosives from the two.

NIA arrests: Bengaluru techie was a key player in Karnataka module

A techie entrepreneur from the city — deported from
Turkey in January 2015 while trying to cross over to Syria with his
wife, five kids, and two other techies from the State — has now emerged
as the key player in the Karnataka module busted by the National
Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday, according to NIA sources.

Mohammed
Abdul Ahad (47), a resident of Thanisandra in north Bengaluru, was
detained and later arrested by the NIA along with five others from the
State. After he was deported from Turkey, he was not arrested but
“counselled” by Central agencies and put under surveillance, it is
learnt.

He then started a tech firm, which bagged a
contract to develop software for the Department of Haj Pilgrimage,
Government of Saudi Arabia.

However, a NIA source said that Ahad turned a “rallying point for rogue elements in the city”, who aspired to go to Syria.

Beggar, namaazi kept a watch on Mudabbir Shaikh for two months

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had been monitoring the
activities of 33-year-old software programmer Mudabbir Shaikh for six
months, it has been revealed. A beggar frequenting the neighbourhood
mosque and a person who offered namaaz there, both believed to be
officers of the NIA or Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in disguise, were on
his tail for two months, snooping around his residence early on Friday,
suspecting that he would meet other agents from the IS.
The NIA arrested Shaikh, who was suspected to be on a major mission,
on Friday. Shaikh allegedly radicalised youths online, which, informers
and agents said, came to light after four months of monitoring his
online activities.
Highly-placed sources in the ATS confirmed that a 'beggar' and a
'five-time namaazi' had been keeping a tight watch on Shaikh's
activities.
"His residence was next to a mosque and a school. We suspected that
he was brainwashing children and youths to execute a major mission.
Keeping a watch on him in disguise was important as he is a
well-connected member of the IS group operating within India," said an
officer.
"We were expecting him to meet other members of the terror outfit
earlier this month, but we believe that the meet, which could have led
us to the messenger, was cancelled."Mumbra's movie & book libraries under scanner
The state ATS and other investigating agencies are keeping a close
watch on DVD libraries and book shops in Mumbra. Officers will soon
conduct raids to find out what material they are stocking to promote
terrorism in the country.
"The books and other content will be checked. It is often seen that
the facade of a DVD library is used to actually sell radical and graphic
material to youths for the purpose of brainwashing them," said an
officer from Thane ATS.

NIA shifts all six arrested terror suspects to Delhi

The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which procured a four day
in-transit custody of the six terror suspects they arrested from the
State, shifted all of them to New Delhi on Sunday morning.The six suspects were put up at an undisclosed location in the city and
the city police given access to question them on Saturday, before they
were moved out.

The six suspects were escorted by six special NIA teams on six separate
commercial flights to Delhi from Kempegowda International Airport (KIA)
on Sunday morning. This was to prevent any untoward incident of the gang
resorting to any mischief mid-air, sources said, who added that
Directorate General of Civil Aviation norms also do not allow more than
one arrested person on a flight.

While NIA sleuths had planned to take some of the suspects to a forest
area in Tumakuru, where they allegedly held a meeting three months ago,
the course of action was changed mid-way. Sources said that the NIA
sleuths are expected to come visiting to Tumakuru in due course. Meanwhile, NIA sleuths clarified that Javed Rafeeq, who allegedly
attempted suicide and stabbed a constable from Telangana Anti-Terror
Squad, when he was picked up on Saturday evening, was not linked to the
crackdown on the IS-linked terror suspects.

Javed Rafeeq, an alleged member of the Indian Mujahideen (IM) module
that carried out the Ahmedabad-Surat terror attacks in 2008, had been
absconding since the Surat attacks. He had been living under a false
identity in the city for the past three years and was picked up in an
independent operation. Rafeeq is undergoing treatment at a private
hospital, after he attempted suicide by swallowing a pebble.

Terror suspects were looking for a forested area

The group of terrorists arrested by the NIA did not use the commonly
available web-based applications like WhatsApp to share files and
information on preparing Improvised Explosive Devices. The members of Janood-ul-Khalifa-e-Hind were instead
active on ShareIt and Trillian messenger for online chat and
communication, The Hindu has learnt.

Officials said some of the members had even met each other and
identified locations to carry out attacks. The NIA said earlier that the
accused were in the process of targeting policemen and foreigners.

“The Islamic State has a lot of traction in India, and it is using the
dark web to recruit young men and women. They are operating at several
levels, and Armar is one of the links here. We have reasonable
information that Armar is based in Syria and is getting directions from
the Islamic State to rope in men here,” the official said.

Under surveilance

Asked what led to the crackdown because the groups were under
surveillance for the last seven-eight months, a senior official said:
“Their communication with each other precipitated the arrests. Since
they have procured the explosives, it was imperative to arrest them.”

He is described as accused number-26 in a case filed by the National
Investigation Agency (NIA) against members of the banned terrorist
outfit Indian Mujahideen (IM). Mohammad Shafi Armar, a resident of
Bhatkal who left for Pakistan along with his brother Mohammad Sultan
Armar, is said to be the brain behind the online recruitment of young
men across the country to join the Islamic State (IS). He is said to be
operating under the pseudo name Yousuf in the online world.

Armar, a key member of the Ansar ul Tawhid (AuT), an offshoot of the IM,
which later on pledged its allegiance to the Islamic State, reportedly
operates from Syria. “We have found that he is the common link between all the recent
IS-linked terror modules busted in the country. Armar was in touch with
the five men arrested from the town of Ratlam in M.P in April last year.
He was also the online recruiter for the four men arrested by the Delhi
and the Uttarakhand police a couple of days ago,” said a senior
government official.

He operates swiftly at three levels — first he scouts for probable
recruits on public platforms like Facebook. He then uses web-based
applications for one-to-one contact and then moves to other
encryption-free applications like Telegram, said an official.

His brother Sultan Armar was killed in March 2015 while fighting alongside the IS in Syria.The Armar brothers’ link to the IS first figured during the
interrogation of Yasin Bhatkal, who was arrested near the Nepal border
in 2013.

It was during his interrogation that the AuT’s links to the IS, who till
now operated near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border was revealed.
Corroborating this, a charge sheet filed by the NIA in 2014 quoted
Bhatkal: “During chat (email), accused A-26 (Shafi Armar) stated that he
desired to be dispatched to Syria to work with other jihadis ... he
desired that India should also become like Iraq and Syria.”

Among those who were arrested on Friday, Mumbra resident Mudabbir
Mushtaq Sheikh was said to have been first recruited by Armar alias
Yousuf. “He was in touch with Armar for over two years now and he had
been motivated to carry out terror strikes. We have recovered lot of
explosives from him,” said a senior NIA official.

The AuT, which was earlier said to be the media wing of the Indian
Mujahideen mainly consisted of men from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh and
Bhatkal in Karnataka. All of them fled to Dubai, from where they made
their way to Pakistan after pressure mounted on them post serial blasts
in 2008. Earlier, the group had imprints of the al-Qaeda, while it was
being trained on the Af-Pak border but it gradually shifted allegiance
to the Islamic State.

Sultan Armar also posted online videos ‘Lions of the Hind’ and ‘Kandahar
se Dilli ki taraf’ on YouTube. The video had gone viral till it was
blocked by the agencies.

CIA leads help Indian agencies bust ISIS cells

Rajshekhar Jha | TNN | Jan 23, 2016, 07.35 AM ISTNEW DELHI: Till not too long ago, the exact presence of Islamic State
(ISIS) operatives was being debated. On Friday almost 20 ISIS operatives
are in the dragnet of security forces as a result of a pan-India
crackdown that has its roots in behind the scenes cooperation between
Indian and US intelligence agencies.

Highly placed sources said
tip offs by US agencies, that are tracking ISIS computers and phones in
West Asia, saw Indian agencies follow the leads over the last weekend
that led them to blow the lid off the ISIS cells.

Explaining
the operation, a source said CIA is keeping a watch on hundreds of IP
addresses of computers and smart phones being used by ISIS in Syria and
Iraq. There were several addresses which ISIS operatives were using to
access Facebook.

All such IPs and proxy servers were under
surveillance and one address was used by ISAuT commander Shafi Armar
(codename: Yousuf al-Hindi) to communicate with the likes of Akhlaq ur
Rehman (arrested in Haridwar aloing with three others) and several
others. The inputs were being shared and surveillance mounted on the
suspects.

Sources say the agencies were able to intercept calls and Whatsapp and
Facebook messages being exchanged by the arrested operatives.

In mid-January, an exchange between Yousuf and Akhlaq read — 7 kalash
rakh do. The code was interpreted as a plot to bomb seven places.This
input was shared by CIA with Indian agencies and alarmed security
officials briefed national security adviser Ajit Doval.

In the next few hours, the suspects shifted from Roorkee to Haridwar.
The sleuths were all charged up anticipating the next move. They knew a
strike was in the making. After five hours, the suspects in Haridwar
shifted base to Roorkee after conducting a survey . Similarly, other
modules also seemed to act in a suspicious manner. A crackdown on all
known ISIS modules across India was ordered.

Agency sleuths worked against time and roped in police and anti-terror
squads stationed in Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai and Hyderabad. A control
room was set-up in Delhi as field officers and policemen spread at their
respective target places. Nobody had an idea of the identity of the
target and were only briefed about the name and place of stay of the
person.

Through Saturday and
Sunday, the agencies executed the operation and picked up the suspects.
The Roorkee-Haridwar operation happened before agencies suspected a
strike even sooner than other modules. Once they were detained, all
suspects were picked up one by one. The north Indian module was handed
over to the special cell which had already been tracking them. The
others were handed over to the NIA and other police. Related News* IS suicide bombers, aged 12-15, may target PM Narendra Modi: Intelligence